The field of the present invention is prize drawing games of chance, equipment therefor, and methods of entering, playing, and administering such games.
Games of chance, and prize drawings in particular, are well known in the art. However, prize drawings typically require the entrant to purchase, directly or indirectly, a chance to win the offered prize. For example, theaters use patrons' numbered ticket stubs as entry forms in prize drawings; but the theater patron is required, at least indirectly and incidentally, to pay money for a chance to win the drawing, since the patron has an opportunity to participate in such a drawing only because he has purchased a theater ticket bearing a numbered stub. The theater's objective in sponsoring such a drawing, typically, is to entertain patrons and give them added incentives to attend the theater. More generally, "door prize" drawings typically are conducted at events that require purchase of a ticket for admission; and the stub of the purchased ticket itself is typically the thing that is deposited, and later randomly drawn, to identify the game winner. Again, the game sponsor's objective typically is to entertain the patrons attending the event and to furnish an added incentive to attend.
In another widely-used form of prize drawing game of chance, the raffle, each game entrant is required to buy at least one raffle ticket. The raffle sponsor typically advertises one or more prizes as an inducement to the public to buy raffle tickets. A typical raffle ticket is separable into two parts, a receipt which the entrant retains and a stub which he deposits in a container for possible selection in a subsequent random drawing. The two parts of the raffle ticket typically bear matching numbers, and the stub which is deposited for the drawing often includes spaces for written information, typically filled out by the entrant, which further identifies him and provides information to facilitate notification should he win the drawing. Selection of a particular entrant's stub in the random drawing identifies that entrant as a prize winner. A raffle sponsor's objective, typically, is to raise money for some organization or cause. The sponsor typically attempts to accomplish this objective by selling enough tickets, at a high enough price, to fund the purchase of the prize or prizes, defray the costs of administering the game, and still have money left over.
Also known in the art are prize drawing games of chance designed to promote sales of a particular product. Typically in these games, the entrant is required to purchase the product, and deposit proof that he has done so, in order to be eligible for a random prize drawing. Such games are typically sponsored by manufacturers and/or marketers of the product in question, with the objective of generating advertising for that product which is of sufficient value to more than offset the costs of funding prizes and administering the game.
"Purchase-required-for-entry" games of chance can be difficult to administer because they are legally problematical in some jurisdictions, where anti-lottery laws prohibit or heavily regulate prize drawing games of chance in which something must be purchased, or in which something of value must otherwise be given by the entrant, in order to have a chance at winning the prize. Hence, the administration of a "purchase-required-for-entry" game of chance may be cumbersome, expensive or even impractical altogether, especially on an interstate scale, due to difficulties in compliance with local variations in the law. Typically, however, legal objections to a prize drawing game of chance may be overcome by providing means to enter the drawing which do not require the entrant, directly or indirectly, to make a purchase or otherwise part with anything of value in return for a chance at winning the prize.
Numerous means are known by which to disseminate written advertising and promotional materials. Handbills, flyers and tear-off posters are among such means, as are product redemption coupons distributed by mail or through newspaper inserts. In addition, cash registers have long been in use which generate paper tapes or tickets (see, e.g., Yantis, U.S. Pat. No. 1,011,549); and these tapes or tickets may be imprinted with advertising messages which promote the sale of a product. Redemption coupons (but not prize drawing game of chance entry forms) imprinted on the backs of cash register tapes are in widespread use. More recently, automatic teller machines (ATM's) have come into use which eject written transaction receipts on which promotional messages and game-entry forms may be imprinted. See, e.g., Bachman et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,671,512 and 4,817,949, which disclose the use of ATM receipts as the medium for a game of chance (but not a prize drawing game of chance) designed to promote use of the ATM machine by bank customers (but not to induce the game entrant to acquaint himself with an item of merchandise).
Also known, and by now in virtually universal use in merchandising in the United States, is the printing of laser-scannable bar codes upon the labels of consumer products. Computerized cash registers at retail-store checkout stations read and decipher the bar codes by means of laser scanners. The products being purchased are thereby identified and priced by the computer, which generates and prints out a receipt tape that itemizes the products purchased and reflects information, including prices, taxes, and totals. If bar-coded redemption coupons are presented by the customer at the checkout station, they too are laser-scanned; and the computer thereby identifies the products to which the coupons pertain, calculates the pertinent discount, adjusts the transaction accordingly, and reports the adjustment on the receipt tape.
Typically accompanying the laser-scannable bar code on a product label is a numeric code (known as the Universal Product Code, and widely referred to as the "UPC"). Typically printed along the margin of the bar code, the UPC includes a 5-digit series of numerals which constitutes a manufacturer identification number, followed by a second 5-digit series of numerals which constitutes an item code. The manufacturer-identifying portion of the UPC is assigned, registered and centrally administered by the Uniform Code Council, Inc., 8163 Old Yankee Road, Suite J, Dayton, Ohio 45459. The Council prescribes guidelines for use of the UPC to improve its usefulness to member companies. Each manufacturer controls the 5-digit item codes which it assigns to its own products. The UPC code placed on an item of merchandise thus uniquely identifies that item by product description--e.g., a 6.125 ounce can of STAR-KIST brand white tuna packed in water--and by the manufacturer which makes or purveys the product.
If for any reason the laser scanner at the retail store checkout station fails to read the bar code, the operator of the checkout station can input the UPC number manually, which gives the computer information similar to what the bar code would give it if the bar code were read, and enables the computer to generate accurate descriptive and pricing information for the product in question and to print, automatically, a receipt tape reflecting that information.
Although the use of computer-scannable bar codes and numeric universal product codes (UPCs) for inventory control and automated checkout is widespread, the employment of such bar codes and numeric UPCs as aids in the operation and administration of a product-promotional prize drawing game of chance, in the manner disclosed hereinafter, is a new use.